Programmable DMA engine for implementing memory transfers and video processing for a video processor

ABSTRACT

A method for using a programmable DMA engine to implement memory transfers and video processing for a video processor. A DMA control program is configured for controlling DMA memory transfers between a frame buffer memory and a video processor. The DMA control program is stored in the DMA engine. A DMA request can be received from the video processor. The DMA control program is executable to implement the DMA request for the video processor. The DMA engine is operable to execute low-level command for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement a high-level command.

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/628,414, filed on Nov. 15, 2004, to Gadre et al., entitled “A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VIDEO PROCESSING” which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the present invention pertains to digital electronic computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for efficiently handling video information on a computer system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The display of images and full-motion video is an area of the electronics industry improving with great progress in recent years. The display and rendering of high-quality video, particularly high-definition digital video, is a primary goal of modern video technology applications and devices. Video technology is used in a wide variety of products ranging from cellular phones, personal video recorders, digital video projectors, high-definition televisions, and the like. The emergence and growing deployment of devices capable of high-definition video generation and display is an area of the electronics industry experiencing a large degree of innovation and advancement.

The video technology deployed in many consumer electronics-type and professional level devices relies upon one or more video processors to format and/or enhance video signals for display. This is especially true for digital video applications. For example, one or more video processors are incorporated into a typical set top box and are used to convert HDTV broadcast signals into video signals usable by the display. Such conversion involves, for example, scaling, where the video signal is converted from a non-16×9 video image for proper display on a true 16×9 (e.g., widescreen) display. One or more video processors can be used to perform scan conversion, where a video signal is converted from an interlaced format, in which the odd and even scan lines are displayed separately, into a progressive format, where an entire frame is drawn in a single sweep.

Additional examples of video processor applications include, for example, signal decompression, where video signals are received in a compressed format (e.g., MPEG-2) and are decompressed and formatted for a display. Another example is re-interlacing scan conversion, which involves converting an incoming digital video signal from a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) format to a composite video format compatible with the vast number of older television displays installed in the market.

More sophisticated users require more sophisticated video processor functions, such as, for example, In-Loop/Out-of-loop deblocking filters, advanced motion adaptive de-interlacing, input noise filtering for encoding operations, polyphase scaling/re-sampling, sub-picture compositing, and processor-amplifier operations such as, color space conversion, adjustments, pixel point operations (e.g., sharpening, histogram adjustment etc.) and various video surface format conversion support operations.

The problem with providing such sophisticated video processor functionality is the fact that a video processor having a sufficiently powerful architecture to implement such functions can be excessively expensive to incorporate into many types of devices. The more sophisticated the video processing functions, the more expensive, in terms of silicon die area, transistor count, memory speed requirements, etc., the integrated circuit device required to implement such functions will be.

Accordingly, prior art system designers were forced to make trade-offs with respect to video processor performance and cost. Prior art video processors that are widely considered as having an acceptable cost/performance ratio have often been barely sufficient in terms of latency constraints (e.g., to avoid stuttering the video or otherwise stalling video processing applications) and compute density (e.g., the number of processor operations per square millimeter of die). Furthermore, prior art video processors are generally not suited to a linear scaling performance requirement, such as in a case where a video device is expected to handle multiple video streams (e.g., the simultaneous handling of multiple incoming streams and outgoing display streams).

Thus what is needed, is a new video processor system that overcomes the limitations on the prior art. The new video processor system should be scalable and have a high compute density to handle the sophisticated video processor functions expected by increasingly sophisticated users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a new video processor system that supports sophisticated video processing functions while making efficient use of integrated circuit silicon die area, transistor count, memory speed requirements, and the like. Embodiments of the present invention maintain high compute density and are readily scalable to handle multiple video streams.

In one embodiment, the present invention is implemented as a method for using a programmable DMA engine to implement memory transfers for a video processor. The method includes accessing a DMA control program configured for controlling DMA memory transfers between a frame buffer memory and a video processor. One or more DMA control programs are stored into an instruction store unit of the DMA engine. The DMA control programs are used to implement the various types of DMA requests received from the video processor. As DMA requests are received from the video processor, an appropriate DMA control program can be accessed and executed by the DMA engine to implement the DMA requests for the video processor.

In one embodiment, a plurality of different DMA control programs are accessed for controlling a plurality of different DMA memory transfer modes. Different control programs can be loaded into the instruction store unit of the DMA engine as needed and in accordance with any specific requirements of a video application executing on the video processor. One of the plurality of DMA control programs is accessed and executed in accordance with receiving one of a plurality of corresponding DMA requests from the video processor. In one embodiment, DMA requests from the video processor comprise high level commands. The DMA engine is configured to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory in order to implement the high-level command, thereby removing this workload from the video processor.

In this manner, the programmable DMA engine can be optimized to efficiently implement a number of different types of DMA accesses to the frame buffer memory on behalf of the video processor. This optimization makes such memory accesses much more efficient than similar accesses using the hardware of the video processor itself.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an overview diagram showing the basic components of a computer system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram depicting the internal components of the video processor unit in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of an exemplary software program for the video processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an example for sub-picture blending with video using a video processor and accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram depicting the internal components of a vector execution in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram depicting the layout of a datastore memory having a symmetrical array of tiles in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram depicting a DMA engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a diagram depicting a boundary tile access method as implemented by the DMA engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram depicting the internal components of the DMA engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of the steps of a process for implementing programmable DMA transfers for a video processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments of the present invention.

Notation and Nomenclature:

Some portions of the detailed descriptions, which follow, are presented in terms of procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. A procedure, computer executed step, logic block, process, etc., is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “accessing” or “executing” or “storing” or “rendering” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system (e.g., computer system 100 of FIG. 1), or simil'ar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Computer System Platform:

FIG. 1 shows a computer system 100 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Computer system 100 depicts the components of a basic computer system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention providing the execution platform for certain hardware-based and software-based functionality. In general, computer system 100 comprises at least one CPU 101, a system memory 115, and at least one graphics processor unit (GPU) 110 and one video processor unit (VPU) 111. The CPU 101 can be coupled to the system memory 115 via the bridge component 105 or can be directly coupled to the system memory 115 via a memory controller (not shown) internal to the CPU 101. The bridge component 105 (e.g., Northbridge) can support expansion buses that connect various I/O devices (e.g., one or more hard disk drives, Ethernet adapter, CD ROM, DVD, etc.). The GPU 110 and the video processor unit 111 are coupled to a display 112. One or more additional GPUs can optionally be coupled to system 100 to further increase its computational power. The GPU(s) 110 and the video processor unit 111 are coupled to the CPU 101 and the system memory 115 via the bridge component 105. System 100 can be implemented as, for example, a desktop computer system or server computer system, having a powerful general-purpose CPU 101 coupled to a dedicated graphics rendering GPU 110. In such an embodiment, components can be included that add peripheral buses, specialized graphics memory and system memory, IO devices, and the like. Similarly, system 100 can be implemented as a handheld device (e.g., cellphone, etc.) or a set-top video game console device such as, for example, the Xbox®, available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., or the PlayStation3®, available from Sony Computer Entertainment Corporation of Tokyo, Japan.

It should be appreciated that the GPU 110 can be implemented as a discrete component, a discrete graphics card designed to couple to the computer system 100 via a connector (e.g., AGP slot, PCI-Express slot, etc.), a discrete integrated circuit die (e.g., mounted directly on the motherboard), or as an integrated GPU included within the integrated circuit die of a computer system chipset component (e.g., integrated within the bridge chip 105). Additionally, a local graphics memory can be included for the GPU 110 for high bandwidth graphics data storage. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the GPU 110 and the video processor unit 111 can be integrated onto the same integrated circuit die (e.g., as component 120) or can be separate discrete integrated circuit components otherwise connected to, or mounted on, the motherboard of computer system 100.

Embodiments of the Present Invention

FIG. 2 shows a diagram depicting the internal components of the video processor unit 111 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the video processor unit 111 includes a scalar execution unit 201, a vector execution unit 202, a memory interface 203, and a host interface 204.

In the FIG. 2 embodiment, the video processor unit (hereafter simply video processor) 111 includes functional components for executing video processing operations. The video processor 111 uses the host interface 204 to establish communication between the video processor 111 and the host CPU 101 via the bridge 105. The video processor 111 uses the memory interface 203 to establish communication between the video processor 111 and a frame buffer memory 205 (e.g., for the coupled display 112, not shown). The scalar execution unit 201 is coupled to the host interface 204 and the memory interface 203 and is configured to execute scalar video processing operations. A vector execution unit is coupled to the host interface 204 and the memory interface 203 and is configured to execute vector video processing operations.

The FIG. 2 embodiment illustrates the manner in which the video processor 111 partitions its execution functionality into scalar operations and vector operations. The scalar operations are implemented by the scalar execution unit 201. The vector operations are implemented by the vector execution unit 202.

In one embodiment, the vector execution unit 202 is configured to function as a slave co-processor to the scalar execution unit 201. In such an embodiment, the scalar execution unit manages the workload of the vector execution unit 202 by feeding control streams to vector execution unit 202 and managing the data input/output for vector execution unit 202. The control streams typically comprise functional parameters, subroutine arguments, and the like. In a typical video processing application, the control flow of the application's processing algorithm will be executed on the scalar execution unit 201, whereas actual pixel/data processing operations will be implemented on the vector execution unit 202.

Referring still to FIG. 2, the scalar execution unit 201 can be implemented as a RISC style scalar execution unit incorporating RISC-based execution technologies. The vector execution unit 202 can be implemented as a SIMD machine having, for example, one or more SIMD pipelines. In a 2 SIMD pipeline embodiment, for example, each SIMD pipeline can be implemented with a 16 pixel wide datapath (or wider) and thus provide the vector execution unit 202 with raw computing power to create up to 32 pixels of resulting data output per clock. In one embodiment, the scalar execution unit 201 includes hardware configured to operate using VLIW (very long instruction word) software code to optimize the parallel execution of scalar operations on a per clock basis.

In the FIG. 2 embodiment, the scalar execution unit 201 includes an instruction cache 211 and a data cache 212 coupled to a scalar processor 210. The caches 211-212 interface with the memory interface 203 for access to external memory, such as, for example, the frame buffer 205. The scalar execution unit 201 further includes a vector interface unit 213 to establish communication with the vector execution unit 202. In one embodiment, the vector interface unit 213 can include one or more synchronous mailboxes 214 configured to enable asynchronous communication between the scalar execution unit 201 and the vector execution unit 202.

In the FIG. 2 embodiment, the vector execution unit 202 includes a vector control unit 220 configured to control the operation of a vector execution datapath, vector datapath 221. The vector control unit 220 includes a command FIFO 225 to receive instructions and data from the scalar execution unit 201. An instruction cache 222 is coupled to provide instructions to the vector control unit 220. A datastore memory 223 is coupled to provide input data to the vector datapath 221 and receive resulting data from the vector datapath 221. The datastore 223 functions as an instruction cache and a data RAM for the vector datapath 221. The instruction cache 222 and the datastore 223 are coupled to the memory interface 203 for accessing external memory, such as the frame buffer 205. The FIG. 2 embodiment also shows a second vector datapath 231 and a respective second datastore 233 (e.g., dotted outlines). It should be understood the second vector datapath 231 and the second datastore 233 are shown to illustrate the case where the vector execution unit 202 has two vector execution pipelines (e.g., a dual SIMD pipeline configuration). Embodiments of the present invention are suited to vector execution units having a larger number of vector execution pipelines (e.g., four, eight, sixteen, etc.).

The scalar execution unit 201 provides the data and command inputs for the vector execution unit 202. In one embodiment, the scalar execution unit 201 sends function calls to the vector execution unit 202 using a memory mapped command FIFO 225. Vector execution unit 202 commands are queued in this command FIFO 225.

The use of the command FIFO 225 effectively decouples the scalar execution unit 201 from the vector execution unit 202. The scalar execution unit 201 can function on its own respective clock, operating at its own respective clock frequency that can be distinct from, and separately controlled from, the clock frequency of the vector execution unit 202.

The command FIFO 225 enables the vector execution unit 202 to operate as a demand driven unit. For example, work can be handed off from the scalar execution unit 201 to command FIFO 225, and then accessed by the vector execution unit 202 for processing in a decoupled asynchronous manner. The vector execution unit 202 would thus process its workload as needed, or as demanded, by the scalar execution unit 201. Such functionality would allow the vector execution unit 202 to conserve power (e.g., by reducing/stopping one or more internal clocks) when maximum performance is not required.

The partitioning of video processing functions into a scalar portion (e.g., for execution by the scalar execution unit 201) and a vector portion (e.g., for execution by the vector execution unit 202) allow video processing programs built for the video processor 111 to be compiled into separate scalar software code and vector software code. The scalar software code and the vector software code can be compiled separately and subsequently linked together to form a coherent application.

The partitioning allows vector software code functions to be written separately and distinct from the scalar software code functions. For example; the vector functions can be written separately (e.g., at a different time, by different team of engineers, etc.) and can be provided as one or more subroutines or library functions for use by/with the scalar functions (e.g., scalar threads, processes, etc.). This allows a separate independent update of the scalar software code and/or the vector software code. For example, a vector subroutine can be independently updated (e.g., through an update of the previously distributed program, a new feature added to increase the functionality of the distributed program, etc.) from a scalar subroutine, or vice versa. The partitioning is facilitated by the separate respective caches of the scalar processor 210 (e.g., caches 211-212) and the vector control unit 220 and vector datapath 221 (e.g., caches 222-223). As described above, the scalar execution unit 201 and the vector execution unit 202 communicate via the command FIFO 225.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of an exemplary software program 300 for the video processor 111 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As depicted in FIG. 3, the software program 300 illustrates attributes of a programming model for the video processor 111, whereby a scalar control thread 301 is executed by the video processor 111 in conjunction with a vector data thread 302.

The software program 300 example of the FIG. 3 embodiment illustrates a programming model for the video processor 111, whereby a scalar control program (e.g., scalar control thread 301) on the scalar execution unit 201 executes subroutine calls (e.g., vector data thread 302) on the vector execution unit 202. The software program 300 example shows a-case where a compiler or software programmer has decomposed a video processing application into a scalar portion (e.g., a first thread) and a vector portion (e.g., a second thread).

As shown in FIG. 3, the scalar control thread 301 running on the scalar execution unit 201 is computing work parameters ahead of time and feeding these parameters to the vector execution unit 202, which performs the majority of the processing work. As described above, the software code for the two threads 301 and 302 can be written and compiled separately.

The scalar thread is responsible for following:

1. Interfacing with host unit 204 and implementing a class interface;

2. Initialization, setup and configuration of the vector execution unit 202; and

3. Execution of the algorithm in work-units, chunks or working sets in a loop, such that with each iteration;

a. the parameters for current working set are computed;

b. the transfer of the input data into vector execution unit is initiated; and

c. the transfer of the output data from vector execution unit is initiated.

The typical execution model of the scalar thread is “fire-and-forget”. The term fire-and-forget refers to the attribute whereby, for a typical model for a video baseband processing application, commands and data are sent to the vector execution unit 202 from the scalar execution unit 201 (e.g., via the command FIFO 225) and there is no return data from the vector execution unit 202 until the algorithm completes.

In the program 300 example of FIG. 3, the scalar execution unit 201 will keep scheduling work for vector execution unit 202 until there is no longer any space in command FIFO 225 (e.g., !end_of_alg & !cmd_fifo_full). The work scheduled by the scalar execution unit 201 computes parameters and sends these parameters to the vector subroutine, and subsequently calls the vector subroutine to perform the work. The execution of the subroutine (e.g., vector_funcB) by the vector execution unit 202 is delayed in time, mainly to hide the latency from main memory (e.g., system memory 115). Thus, the architecture of the video processor 111 provides a latency compensation mechanism on the vector execution unit 202 side for both instruction and data traffic. These latency compensation mechanisms are described in greater detail below.

It should be noted that the software program 300 example would be more complex in those cases where there are two or more vector execution pipelines (e.g., vector datapath 221 and second vector datapath 231 of FIG. 2). Similarly, the software program 300 example would be more complex for those situations where the program 300 is written for a computer system having two vector execution pipelines, but yet retains the ability to execute on a system having a single vector execution pipeline.

Thus, as described above in the discussion of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the scalar execution unit 201 is responsible for initiating computation on the vector execution unit 202. In one embodiment, the commands passed from the scalar execution unit 201 to the vector execution unit 202 are of the following main types:

1. Read commands (e.g., memRd) initiated by the scalar execution unit 201 to transfer current working set data from memory to data RAMs of the vector execution unit 202;

2. Parameter passing from the scalar execution unit 201 to the vector execution unit 202;

3. Execute commands in the form of the PC (e.g., program counter) of the vector subroutine to be executed; and

4. Write commands (e.g., memWr) initiated by scalar execution unit 201 to copy the results of the vector computation into memory.

In one embodiment; upon receiving these commands the vector execution unit 202 immediately schedules the memRd commands to memory interface 203 (e.g., to read the requested data from the frame buffer 205). The vector execution unit 202 also examines the execute commands and prefetches the vector subroutine to be executed (if not present in the cache 222).

The objective of the vector execution unit 202 in this situation is to schedule ahead the instruction and data steams of the next few executes while the vector execution unit 202 is working on current execute. The schedule ahead features effectively hide the latency involved in fetching instructions/data from their memory locations. In order to make these read requests ahead of time, the vector execution unit 202, the datastore (e.g., datastore 223), and the instruction cache (e.g., cache 222) are implemented by using high speed optimized hardware.

As described above, the datastore (e.g., datastore 223) functions as the working RAM of the vector execution unit 202. The scalar execution unit 201 perceives and interacts with the datastore as if it were a collection of FIFOs. The FIFOs comprise the “streams” with which the video processor 111 operates. In one embodiment, streams are generally input/output FIFOs that the scalar execution unit 201 initiates the transfers (e.g., to the vector execution unit 202) into. As described above, the operation of the scalar execution unit 201 and the vector execution unit 202 are decoupled.

Once the input/output streams are full, a DMA engine within the vector control unit 220 stops processing the command FIFO 225. This soon leads to the command FIFO 225 being full. The scalar execution unit 201 stops issuing additional work to the vector execution unit 202 when the command FIFO 225 is full.

In one embodiment, the vector execution unit 202 may need intermediate streams in addition to the input and output streams. Thus the entire datastore 223 can be seen as a collection of streams with respect to the interaction with the scalar execution unit 201.

FIG. 4 shows an example for sub-picture blending with video using a video processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows an exemplary case where a video surface is blended with a sub-picture and then converted to an ARGB surface. The data comprising the surfaces are resident in frame buffer memory 205 as the Luma parameters 412 and Chroma parameters 413. The sub-picture pixel elements 414 are also resident in the frame buffer memory 205 as shown. The vector subroutine instructions and parameters 411 are instantiated in memory 205 as shown.

In one embodiment, each stream comprises a FIFO of working 2D chunks of data called “tiles”. In such an embodiment, the vector execution unit 202 maintains a read tile pointer and a write tile pointer for each stream. For example, for input streams, when a vector subroutine is executed, the vector subroutine can consume, or read, from a current (read) tile. In the background, data is transferred to the current (write) tile by memRd commands. The vector execution unit can also produce output tiles for output streams. These tiles are then moved to memory by memWr( ) commands that follow the execute commands. This effectively pre-fetches tiles and has them ready to be operated on, effectively hiding the latency.

In the FIG. 4 sub-picture blending example, the vector datapath 221 is configured by the instantiated instance of the vector sub routine instructions and parameters 411 (e.g., &v_subp_blend). This is shown by the line 421. The scalar execution unit 201 reads in chunks (e.g., tiles) of the surfaces and loads them into datastore 223 using the DMA engine 401 (e.g., within the memory interface 203). The load operation is shown by line 422, line 423, and line 424.

Referring still to FIG. 4, since there are multiple input surfaces, multiple input streams need to be maintained. Each stream has a corresponding FIFO. Each stream can have different number of tiles. The FIG. 4 example shows a case where the sub-picture surface is in system memory 115 (e.g., sub-picture pixel elements 414) and hence would have additional buffering (e.g., n, n+1, n+2, n+3, etc.), whereas the video stream (e.g., Luma 412, Chroma 413, etc.) can have a smaller number of tiles. The number of buffers/FIFOs used can be adjusted in accordance with the degree of latency experienced by stream.

As described above, the datastore 223 utilizes a look ahead prefetch method to hide latency. Because of this, a stream can have data in two or more tiles as the data is prefetched for the appropriate vector datapath execution hardware (e.g., depicted as FIFO n, n+1, n+2, etc.).

Once the datastore is loaded, the FIFOs 402 are accessed by the vector datapath hardware 221 and operated upon by the vector subroutine (e.g., subroutine 430). The results of the vector datapath operation comprises an output stream 403. This output stream is copied by the scalar execution unit 201 via the DMA engine 401 back into the frame buffer memory 205 (e.g., ARGB_OUT 415). This shown by the line 425.

Thus, embodiments of the present invention utilize an important aspect of stream processing, which is the fact that data storage and memory is abstracted as a plurality of memory titles. Hence, a stream can be viewed as a sequentially accessed collection of tiles. Streams are used to prefetch data. This data is in the form of tiles. The tiles are prefetched to hide latency from the particular memory source the data originates from (e.g., system memory, frame buffer memory, or the like). Similarly, the streams can be destined for different locations (e.g., caches for vector execution unit, caches for scalar execution unit, frame buffer memory, system memory, etc.). Another characteristic of streams is that they generally access tiles in a lookahead prefetching mode. As described above, the higher the latency, the deeper the prefetching and the more buffering that is used per stream (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 4).

FIG. 5 shows a diagram depicting the internal components of a vector execution unit in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The diagram of FIG. 5 shows an arrangement of the various functional units and register/SRAM resources of the vector execution unit 202 from a programming point of view.

In the FIG. 5 embodiment, the vector execution unit 202 comprises a VLIW digital signal processor optimized for the performance of video baseband processing and the execution of various codecs (compression-decompression algorithms). Accordingly, the vector execution unit 202 has a number of attributes directed towards increasing the efficiency of the video processing/codec execution.

In the FIG. 5 embodiment, the attributes comprise:

1. Scalable performance by providing the option for the incorporation of multiple vector execution pipelines;

2. The allocation of 2 data address generators (DAGs) per pipe;

3. Memory/Register operands;

4. 2D (x,y) pointers/iterators;

5. Deep pipeline (e.g., 11-12) stages;

6. Scalar (integer)/branch units;

7. Variable instruction widths (Long/Short instructions);

8. Data aligners for operand extraction;

9. 2D datapath (4×4) shape of typical operands and result; and

10. Slave vector execution unit to scalar execution unit, executing remote procedure calls.

Generally, a programmer's view of the vector execution unit 202 is as a SIMD datapath with 2 DAGs 503. Instructions are issued in VLIW manner (e.g., instructions are issued for the vector datapath 504 and address generators 503 simultaneously) and are decoded and dispatched to the appropriate execution unit by the instruction decoder 501. The instructions are of variable length, with the most commonly used instructions encoded in short form. The full instruction set is available in the long form, as VLIW type instructions.

The legend 502 shows three clock cycles having three such VLIW instructions. In accordance with the legend 510, the uppermost of the VLIW instructions 502 comprises two address instructions (e.g., for the 2 DAGs 503) and one instruction for the vector datapath 504. The middle VLIW instruction comprises one integer instruction (e.g., for the integer unit 505), one address instruction, and one vector instruction. The lower most VLIW instruction comprises a branch instruction (e.g., for the branch unit 506), one address instruction, and one vector instruction.

The vector execution unit can be configured to have a single data pipe or multiple data pipes. Each data pipe consists of local RAM (e.g., a datastore 511), a crossbar 516, 2 DAGs 503, and a SIMD execution unit (e.g., the vector datapath 504). FIG. 5 shows a basic configuration for explanatory purposes, where only 1 data pipe is instantiated. When 2 data pipes are instantiated, they can run as independent threads or as cooperative threads.

Six different ports (e.g., 4 read and 2 write) can be accessed via an address register file unit 515. These registers receive parameters from the scalar execution unit or from the results of the integer unit 505 or the address unit 503. The DAGs 503 also function as a collection controller and manages the distribution of the registers to address the contents of the datastore 511 (e.g., RA0, RA1, RA2, RA3, WA0, and WA1). A crossbar 516 is coupled to allocate the output data ports R0, R1, R2, R3 in any order/combination into the vector datapath 504 to implement a given instruction. The output of the vector datapath 504 for can be fed back into the datastore 511 as indicated (e.g., W0). A constant RAM 517 is used to provide frequently used operands from the integer unit 505 to the vector datapath 504, and the datastore 511.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram depicting a plurality of banks 601-604 of a memory 600 and a layout of a datastore having a symmetrical array of tiles 610 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As depicted in FIG. 6, for explanatory purposes, only a portion of the datastore 610 is shown. The datastore 610 logically comprises an array (or arrays) of tiles. Each tile is an array of sub-tiles of 4×4 shape. Physically, as shown by the memory 600, the data store 610 is stored in an array of “N” physical banks of memory (e.g., banks 601-604).

Additionally, the data store 610 visually depicts a logical tile in a stream. In the FIG. 6 embodiment, this tile is 16 bytes high and 16 bytes wide. This tile is an array of subtiles (in this example 4×4). Each subtile is stored in a physical bank. This is shown in FIG. 6 by the number within each 4×4 subtile, in a case where there are 8 banks of physical memory (e.g., banks 0 through 7). The organization of subtiles in banks is done such that there is no common bank in 2×2 arrangement of subtitles. This makes any unaligned access (e.g., in both x and y direction) possible without any bank collision.

The banks 601-604 are configured to support accesses to different tiles of each bank. For example, in one case, the crossbar 516 can access a 2×4 set of tiles from bank 601 (e.g., the first two rows of bank 601). In another case, the crossbar 516 can access a 1×8 set of tiles from two adjacent banks. Similarly, in another case, the crossbar 516 can access an 8×1 set of tiles from two adjacent banks. In each case, the DAGs/collector 503 can receive the tiles as the banks are accessed by the crossbar 516, and provide those tiles to the front end of the vector datapath 504 on a per clock basis.

In this manner, embodiments of the present invention provide a new video processor architecture that supports sophisticated video processing functions while making efficient use of integrated circuit silicon die area, transistor count, memory speed requirements, and the like. Embodiments of the present invention maintain high compute density and are readily scalable to handle multiple video streams. Embodiments of the present invention can provide a number of sophisticated video processing operations such as, for example, MPEG-2/WMV9/H.264 encode assist (e.g., In-loop decoder), MPEG-2/WMV9/H.264 decode (e.g., post entropy decoding), and In Loop/Out of loop deblocking filters.

Additional video processing operations provided by embodiments of the present invention include, for example, advanced motion adaptive deinterlacing, input noise filtering for encoding, polyphase scaling/resampling, and sub-picture compositing. The video processor architecture of the present invention can also be used for certain video processor-amplifier (procamp) applications such as, for example, color space conversion, color space adjustments, pixel point operations such as sharpening, histogram adjustment, and various video surface format conversions.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram 700 depicting a DMA engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As depicted in diagram 700, the DMA engine 401 is shown incorporated within the vector execution unit 202 along with the instruction cache 222, the data store 223, and a second data store 233. The DMA engine 401 is coupled to communicate with the memory interface 203 as shown.

In the FIG. 7 embodiment, the DMA engine 401 is configured to implement a number of different DMA memory access methods in support of the video processing operations executed by the video processor (e.g., video processor 111), or more specifically, the vector execution unit 202. In addition to different DMA memory access methods, the DMA engine 401 is configured to format, process, and arrange data that is written to the frame buffer memory 205 and data is read from the frame buffer memory 205. This data can be stored into the data stores 223 and 233 or the instruction cache 222. This further processing of the data, in addition to the mere reading and/or writing of the data, significantly offloads a significant amount of work from the vector execution unit 202, and thus the video processor 111.

In one embodiment, the DMA engine 401 comprises a programmable engine configured to run one or more DMA control programs. The DMA control programs control the memory transfers between the frame buffer memory 205 and the vector execution unit 202. One or more DMA control programs are stored within the DMA engine 401 and are accessed to implement the different kinds of DMA operations. These DMA control programs can be updated and/or replaced as needed to implement new or different types of DMA operations. This functionality enables the implementation and support of new and different types of video processing applications.

The video processor 111 communicates with the DMA engine 401 by using a number of high-level commands. These high-level commands correspond to certain high-level types of functions. The DMA engine 401 receives these high-level commands and executes a series of comparatively low-level commands that implement the high-level types of functions. For example, the video processor 111 can use one high-level command to indicate a certain image, a certain data structure, or the like is required from the frame buffer 205. To fulfill the request, the DMA engine 401 will execute one or more a DMA control programs that correspond to the high-level command. Generally, a DMA control program comprises a subroutine having series of low-level frame buffer access commands. In this case, the subroutine provides the necessary instructions for the hardware to retrieve the required image, data structure, or the like, and provide constituent data to the video processor 111.

The DMA engine 401 supports a number of processing functions in addition to the mere reading or writing of data. By supporting these processing functions, a number of processor cycles of the video processor 111 can be used on other more important tasks. These processing functions are now described.

In one embodiment, the video processor 111 can issue one or more high-level pixel level formatting commands to the DMA engine 401. The pixel level formatting commands typically comprise video processing operations such as shifting (e.g., shift a 10 bit value left or right some number of bits), clamping (e.g., clamping some 10 bit value to within a valid range), saturation, permutations, or the like being performed on the constituent data comprising the pixels. For example, instead of merely fetching the pixel data from the frame buffer 205 and performing the pixel level formatting within the video processor 111, the video processor 111 issues a high-level command to the DMA engine 401 to fetch the request of pixel data and perform the pixel level formatting using the hardware of the DMA engine 401. Upon completion of the pixel level formatting, the resulting data is forwarded to the video processor 111.

Another example would be a case where the high-level command issued by the video processor 111 comprises a 2-D command. A 2-D command refers to a case where the video processor 111 requests a rectangular block of pixels. This block of pixels will be some number of pixels high by some numbers of pixels wide (e.g., 2-D). To execute the high-level command, the DMA engine 401 executes a plurality of tile fetch commands to assemble the data comprising the 2-D command and provide the data to the video processor 111. For example, in one embodiment, the DMA engine 401 is configured to fetch data from the frame buffer in the form of 32×32 tiles (e.g., tiles measuring 32 pixels by 32 pixels). In the case where a high-level command requests a 320×640 2-D block, the DMA engine 401 executes the low-level instructions required to fetch the appropriate number of 32×32 tiles in order to fulfill the requested 320×640 block.

Another similar example to the 2-D block request high-level command is a case where the high-level command comprises an image access command. With an image access high-level command, the DMA engine 401 implements one of a number of its available tiling modes to most efficiently fetch the requested image from the frame buffer 205. For example, depending upon characteristics of the requested image, different sized tiles can be used (e.g., 32×32, 16×16, etc.), and these tiles can be fetched sequentially from left to right, top to bottom, or the like. Generally, each of the different tiling modes is implemented via its corresponding DMA control program.

It should be noted that, as described above, the executing of the DMA control programs by the DMA engine 401 is specifically configured to implement the DMA requests for the video processor (e.g., the vector execution unit 202). In other words, these DMA control programs and hardware which execute the DMA control programs is specifically configured to reduce a workload of the video processor 111.

FIG. 8 shows a diagram 800 depicting a boundary tile access method as implemented by the DMA engine 401 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 8, diagram 800 shows a 240×720 pixel image 801 and an interior 32×32 tile 802, a boundary 32×32 tile 803, and a 4×16 tile 805 (e.g., one 4×16 tile from the 4×720 top edge of the image 801).

The FIG. 8 embodiment shows a case where the high-level command comprises a boundary tile access of the image 801. A boundary tile access refers to those situations where tiles which straddle the edge of the image need to be fetched from the frame buffer. Such boundary tiles need to be treated differently than tiles which are entirely within the interior of the image.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, tile 802 is an interior tile whereas tile 803 is a boundary tile. For the interior tile, the DMA engine can simply fetch all the constituent pixels comprising 32×32 tile 802. However, for a boundary tile (e.g., tile 803), some portion of the data comprising the 32×32 tile lies outside the boundary of the image 801. This data that lies outside the boundary of the image 801 needs to be properly cropped off, such that only the portion of the data that lies within the image 801 is returned (e.g., portion 804). This cropping operation requires that a number of low-level instructions be executed, and this execution is handled by the DMA engine 401 as opposed to other video processor hardware.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram 900 depicting the internal components of the DMA engine 401 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As described above, the DMA engine 401 comprises programmable DMA execution unit configured to provide a number of memory access functions for the video processor 111. One or more DMA control programs are stored into an instruction store unit 913 of the DMA engine 401. The DMA control programs are used to implement the various types of DMA requests received from the video processor 111, as described above. DMA requests are received via an input bus 901. As DMA requests are received, a DMA controller 910 receives the request and accesses and executes an appropriate DMA control program. The controller 910 implements the pixel level processing and pixel level formatting commands by using the working RAM 914. The memory interface 203 and the frame buffer 205 are accessed via an output bus 902. The input buffer 911 is used to transmit and receive data to the video processor hardware. The output buffer 912 is used to transmit and receive data to the memory interface 203 and the frame buffer 205.

In this manner, the programmable DMA engine can be optimized to efficiently implement a number of different types of DMA accesses to and from the frame buffer memory on behalf of the video processor. This optimization makes such memory accesses much more efficient than similar accesses using the hardware of the video processor.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of the steps of a process 1000 for implementing programmable DMA transfers for a video processor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, process 1000 shows the operating steps of a programmable DMA engine (e.g., DMA engine 401) performed in implementing a number of high-level commands from a video processor.

Process 1000 begins in step 1001, where a plurality of DMA control programs are accessed. As described above, DMA control programs are for controlling the DMA transfers and the pixel level formatting associated with such transfers. In the present embodiment, the DMA transfers are executed between a frame buffer memory (e.g., frame buffer memory 205) and a video processor (e.g., video processor 111). In step 1002, the DMA engine stores the DMA control programs within an internal instruction storage unit (e.g., instruction storage unit 913 of FIG. 9).

In step 1003, the DMA engine 401 receives a series of DMA requests from the scalar execution unit 201 or the vector execution unit 202. As described above, these requests are in the form of high-level commands, and these high-level commands are configured to reduce the amount of work that needs to be performed by the scalar execution unit 201 or the vector execution unit 202. In step 1004, the DMA engine accesses the DMA control program corresponding to each of the DMA requests. Subsequently, in step 1005, the corresponding DMA control program is executed for each of the pending DMA requests. A controller 910 within the DMA engine 401 accesses the instruction store unit 913 and executes the constituent low-level instructions corresponding to the high-level instructions received from the scalar execution unit 201 or vector execution unit 202. The resulting data is then provided to the video processor 111. The vector execution unit 202 issues the read requests ahead to hide latency.

The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for using a programmable DMA engine to implement memory transfers for a video processor, comprising: accessing a DMA control program configured for controlling DMA memory transfers between a frame buffer memory and a video processor; storing the DMA control program into an instruction store unit of the DMA engine; receiving a DMA request from the video processor; and executing the DMA control program to implement the DMA request for the video processor, wherein in executing the DMA control program, the DMA engine is operable to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement a high-level command and wherein the high-level command corresponds to a pixel based video processing function supported by the DMA engine and the DMA engine is operable to perform at least one pixel based video processing function that the video processor is operable to perform.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: accessing a plurality of different DMA control programs for controlling a plurality of different DMA memory transfer modes; and executing one of the plurality of DMA control programs in accordance with receiving one of a plurality of corresponding DMA requests from the video processor.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the DMA request from the video processor comprises a high-level command, and wherein the DMA engine is operable to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement the high-level command.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the high-level command comprises a 2-D command, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of tile fetch commands to assemble data comprising the 2-D command and provide the data to the video processor.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the high-level command comprises a pixel level formatting command, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of pixel level format instructions to implement the pixel level formatting command.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the pixel level formatting comprises shifting, saturation, clamping, or permutation.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the high-level command comprises a boundary tile access, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of tile fetch commands to crop data of at least one boundary tile.
 8. The method of claim 3, wherein the high-level command comprises an image access command, and wherein the DMA engine implements one of a plurality of configurable tiling modes to fetch the data comprising an image.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the DMA control programs to implement the DMA requests for the video processor is configured to reduce a workload of the video processor.
 10. A programmable DMA engine for implementing memory transfers for a video processor, comprising: a controller for accessing a DMA control program configured for controlling DMA memory transfers between a frame buffer memory and a video processor; an instruction storage unit for storing the DMA control program; an input buffer for receiving a DMA request from the video processor; and an output buffer for providing the request to DMA output data to the video processor upon the execution of the DMA control program, wherein the DMA request from the video processor comprises a high level command, and wherein the DMA engine is configured to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement the high-level command and wherein the high-level command corresponds to a pixel based video processing function supported by the DMA engine and the DMA engine is operable to perform at least one pixel based video processing function that the video processor is operable to perform.
 11. The programmable DMA engine of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to access a plurality of different DMA control programs for controlling a plurality of different DMA memory transfer modes, and execute one of the plurality of DMA control programs in accordance with receiving one of a plurality of corresponding DMA requests from the video processor.
 12. The programmable DMA engine of claim 10, wherein the high-level command comprises a 2-D command, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of tile fetch commands to assemble data comprising the 2-D command and provide the data to the video processor.
 13. The programmable DMA engine of claim 10, wherein the high-level command comprises a pixel level formatting command, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of pixel level format instructions to implement the pixel level formatting.
 14. The programmable DMA engine of claim 13, wherein the pixel level formatting comprises shifting, saturation, clamping, or permutation.
 15. The programmable DMA engine of claim 10, wherein the high-level command comprises a boundary tile access, and wherein the DMA engine executes a plurality of tile fetch commands to crop data of at least one boundary tile.
 16. The programmable DMA engine of claim 11, wherein the high-level command comprises an image access command, and wherein the DMA engine implements one of a plurality of configurable tiling modes to fetch the data comprising an image.
 17. A system for executing video processing operations, comprising: a CPU; a video processor coupled to the CPU, comprising: a memory interface for establishing communication between the video processor and a frame buffer memory; a vector execution unit coupled to the memory interface and configured to execute vector video processing operations; and a programmable DMA engine to implement memory transfers between the vector execution unit and the frame buffer memory, the DMA engine executing computer readable code which causes the DMA engine to implement a method comprising: accessing a DMA control program configured for controlling DMA memory transfers between the frame buffer memory and the vector execution unit; storing the DMA control program into an instruction store unit of the DMA engine; receiving a DMA request from the vector execution unit; and executing the DMA control program to implement the DMA request for the vector execution unit, wherein in executing the DMA control program, the DMA engine is operable to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement a high-level command and wherein the high-level command corresponds to a pixel based video processing function supported by the DMA engine and the DMA engine is operable to perform at least one pixel based video processing function that the video processor is operable to perform.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises: accessing a plurality of different DMA control programs for controlling a plurality of different DMA memory transfer modes; and executing one of the plurality of DMA control programs in accordance with receiving one of a plurality of corresponding DMA requests from the vector execution unit.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the DMA request from the video processor comprises a high-level command, and wherein the DMA engine is operable to execute a plurality of low-level commands for accessing the frame buffer memory to implement the high-level command.
 20. The system of claim 17, wherein the DMA engine is operable to offload work from the vector execution unit. 